Eptheca: An Addition
by bluelizard91
Summary: Mild AU thingy with my lame attempt at a cool title. Among the homeless and ne'er-do-wells of Bayville is a young man with a single name. Who is he, and what is this secret that he knows he should know, but doesn't? Not a big surprise if you know your X-Men. At least one OC. Rated T 'cause I'm paranoid. COMING OUT OF HAITUS!
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hey everyone! It's me again, bluelizard91! If you've never read my stuff before, then welcome aboard! If you have read my stuff, then you're probably wondering why I'm starting a new story when I don't even have five chapters on my first story yet. Well, I was watching X-Men: Evolution again and I decided to look up some of the original comics and stuff. I found a good site, and when I was reading the character biographies I came across one that practically yelled "Write a fanfic about me!" Once the idea got in my head, it wouldn't go away. It just wouldn't leave me alone, I tell you! (Grrrrr) So, long story short, here's an XM:E story with a character from the original comics thrown in, just to see how it would turn out. Oh, and there will be at least one OC in this story, so if that annoys you for some reason you should turn back now. If you want to know what happens, well, here's Chapter 1! The story is kind of slow right now, but it is only the beginning…

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men or any other franchise that may make an appearance in this story. I only own this plot and idea. Seriously, if I did own the X-Men, why would I bother putting this story up on a fanfiction site when I could make it canon and get some money from it?

Chapter 1

It was a warm spring night in the city, with a small breeze blowing around last year's dead leaves and random litter. There was a half moon hanging among the stars in the sky, which were partially dimmed by a patchy cloud cover and the glare of streetlights. The sidewalks were largely empty, but even though rush hour had come and gone the city was far from quiet. There were some people still on the streets, going out to dinner or doing late night shopping. A school bus pulled into the parking lot of the high school, probably carrying students to an evening sports event.

In a residential area not far from the high school, a young man walked alone, passing a few apartments and small office buildings as he looked for a certain alleyway. He found the spot he was looking for and ducked between two brick buildings. The alley wasn't more than ten feet across, and decorated with graffiti here and there. A couple of large trashcans stood against one building. The young man stood still for a moment, absently shifting his backpack and letting his eyes adjust to the darkness in the alley. Speaking of which, the alley seemed better lit than usual…

"Oi, Joseph! I've been waiting for you, mate!" A cheery British voice spoke near the trashcans. The figure of a man rose up from where he had been sitting on the ground, shining a small flashlight on the man called Joseph. Joseph gave a small smile.

"Hey, David," he responded. "How did it go?"

David shrugged at Joseph's question.

"Eh, I guess I could have gone about it differently. I kind of sprung it on my sister out of the blue, but she already saw it coming…"

"Really? How do you mean?" Joseph asked, somewhat concerned. David waved his hand dismissively.

"Oh, nothing much. It just so happens that Emma has a 'special gift', too. She's a telepath and she knew about my 'special gift' ever since it first showed up."

"A telepath?" Joseph was surprised, yet the idea of David's older sister being a telepath made sense. The few times that he had met Emma she had always seemed to know exactly what was on his mind. Joseph had just assumed that she was the type who knew how to read people like a book.

"Yeah, a bit on the scary side, isn't it?" David was saying. "It would explain why she never fell for any of my pranks when I was younger," he mused. David was silent for a moment, before shaking his head.

"Well, since I'm a bloke who does weird shadow stuff and we know that Emma's a telepath, what about you? Do you have any 'special gifts' that I don't know about?"

Joseph was taken aback by David's question. He had been hiding the truth on purpose because he didn't fully understand it himself, but he wasn't going to keep lying about it now that he had been asked. Joseph reached into his pocket and took out a few coins. He concentrated for a moment and the coins levitated out of his hand, hovering in the air. David stared at the pieces of metal as they hovered in the beam of his flashlight.

"Wow…you can move stuff around with your mind? Telekinesis?"

"No, I can only control metal for some reason."

David thought for a moment.

"Hmm. Magnetism, probably…If that's the case you might have some control over electricity as well…"

"Really? But isn't that different from magnetism?" Joseph asked.

"Electricity and magnetism can be separate in some circumstances. However, the phenomena associated with lightning and magnets are both caused by electromagnetism. Just think of it like two sides of the same coin, alright?" David gave a wry chuckle at his own wordplay.

Joseph nodded, somehow holding back a frustrated sigh. David's family was quite rich, owing to his father's time as CEO of his own company. As such, both David and his sister had a very good education, and David was always willing to explain something that Joseph had questions about. This happened rather often because Joseph didn't have many chances at decent schooling, due to being homeless. He had been living on the streets for as long as he could remember, which really wasn't very long at all.

Joseph was pulled from his thoughts by an odd noise in the distance. The coins that he was still levitating dropped and bounced off his hand, landing on the concrete with tiny, metallic clicking sounds. David had heard the odd noise too: a sort of whooshing sound, further down the street from their position. Before Joseph could ask what it was, a huge gust of wind blew past, scattering litter and…overturning cars? Did those windows and streetlights just shatter? The wind left just as quickly as it had come, and in the momentary silence, David spoke.

"If I didn't know better, I would say that kid just made a sonic boom…" He paused, and face palmed in self annoyance. "Wait, what am I talking about? I'm a bloke who does weird shadow stuff, my sister can read peoples' minds, and you can make pocket change fly around! Why shouldn't the kid be making a sonic boom?"

"That was a person?" Joseph asked in surprise. David nodded.

"When I'm using my shadow power I can make myself move really fast," he explained. "I've sort of trained myself to see the details of my target faster, because otherwise I end up missing it completely and making a general fool of myself. Listen, the kid's coming back!"

Yes, Joseph could hear the whooshing sound again. Someone gave a cocky shout, and sure enough, the wind gusted past again. This time Joseph just glimpsed a person wearing some sort of aqua colored uniform. David quickly stepped forward and peeked out of the alley, waiting. Joseph stepped up beside him.

"What are you doing?" Joseph asked.

"What's the biggest object that you've ever affected with your magnetism?" David asked.

Joseph blinked. "A pickup truck, for sure. Why?"

"So, you wouldn't have any trouble with those trash cans?"

"I don't see why I would…" Joseph replied slowly.

"See if you can use those to slow this kid down or something," David cut him off. "Quick, here he comes!"

Before Joseph could think, the aqua blur appeared again…and levitated in the air just across from the alley. It was a skinny high school aged boy with short silver hair, and he kicked at the air in protest. Whatever was happening, he certainly wasn't hovering in midair because he wanted to.

"Whoa! Hey, what's going on?" The silver haired boy demanded of no one in particular, and promptly began spinning in the air. The wind picked up again, this time moving like a tornado. The silver haired youth laughed in that cocky way again.

"Hold on to this, baby!" He yelled to no one that Joseph could see. "It's twister time!"

"I think you mean TACKLE time, mate!" David yelled, at the same time rushing forward. He took a running leap at the odd twister, and a black shadowy aura appeared around him, mysterious and empowering. The silver haired youth in aqua clothing had enough time to give a surprised shout before David slammed into him, knocking him out of the air and pinning him down on the pavement.

"Hey! Where did you come from? Get off me!" The silver haired youth yelled in protest. "Who do you think you are, anyway!?"

"I'm the bloke you don't want to tangle with, and you have several hundred dollars worth of property damages on your hands!" David grabbed the youth by the front of his uniform and lifted him up, his feet once again kicking uselessly at the air.

"Why do you care? You don't own this town!" The silver haired youth demanded angrily.

"No, but my sister and I live on this street, and I'm seriously considering making you buy new windows for our house and putting all of them in by yourself!"

"You'll have to catch me first!"

David opened his mouth to say that he had already caught him, and the silver haired youth in aqua snapped his leg forwards, aiming to kick David in the face. David managed to parry the kick with his free hand, because his shadow power granted him a momentary boost in speed. However, he ended up losing his grip on the youth's uniform. The silver haired boy darted out of David's reach and began running circles around him, literally. David gave a surprised yelp, as he found himself literally lifted off his feet by the wind that the silver haired youth was generating from his speed.

"Ha ha! What are you gonna do now, buddy?" The silver haired youth taunted David.

"I'm glad you asked, Twinkle Toes!" David replied with a smirk, still in the air. He curled up his arms and legs, building up energy. With a short yell, David snapped out his arms and legs, releasing his shadowy aura with the force of a small explosion. The silver haired youth was thrown off his feet and landed hard on his behind at least thirty feet away. Wincing, the youth scrambled to stand up again.

Joseph quickly turned back towards the trash cans and reached out with both hands, focusing. The trash can lids rose into the air and floated beside him. Using one hand to guide each one separately, Joseph swept one arm through the air to send a lid shooting out of the alley.

The silver haired youth gave another surprised shout as he tripped over the trash can lid, sprawling face first on the pavement. He scurried to get away, rather stunned by the fact that he had been knocked off his feet three times in the past two minutes. He was forced to quickly roll out of the way as David fell to the ground in the absence of the youth's impromptu twister.

Joseph, still standing in the alley, doubled his focus and guided the trash can lid towards the silver haired youth again. The youth finally jumped to his feet and threw out his arms to deflect the flying piece of metal, but he didn't notice the other one swooping down on him from behind. He was hit square on the back of the head and crumpled to the ground, again, like a wet noodle. Joseph lowered the trash can lids to the ground, relaxing his focus. He dashed out of the alley and knelt down beside David on the ground.

"David, are you all right?" He asked worriedly. David muttered some unkind words and something about 'good form' before replying.

"Yeah, I'm fine. But I'm still going to make that kid pay for the new windows."

"Is everyone okay?"

Joseph looked up to see three people approaching, all wearing odd uniforms. There was a tall brown haired man with a red colored visor across his eyes and a large yellow X design on the front of his uniform. There was a young lady with long red hair, who wore a uniform with a lime green triangular shape on the front that stretched from the collar all the way down the front, accentuating her figure. The last person was an African-American youth with short bleached blonde hair and a plain black uniform with red pads on the shoulders that sported a black X design. It was the girl who had asked the question.

"Eh? Yeah, I'm fine," David said in reply. "But who are you?"

"We'll explain later," The tall brown haired man said. "Right now, we have a petty criminal to deal with."

"Oh yeah, that bloke," David muttered, shooting an annoyed glare at the silver haired youth who was beginning to wake up.

Joseph stood up and focused again, levitated the trash can lids once more. He frowned in effort, and tore each trash can down the middle, getting four pieces of metal to work with. He quickly wrapped the metal pieces around the silver haired youth, two around his upper body to pin his arms down, and two around his shins and ankles so he couldn't run anymore.

"Huh?-What are you doing?" The silver haired youth protested as he became fully awake and saw the metal pieces around himself. He struggled against the metal, and it began to give way somewhat. Joseph focused again, holding the metal down without hurting the youth so it couldn't be moved any further.

"I can't get loose! I can't get loose!" The silver haired youth cried, almost desperately. The African-American boy walked over and looked down at the silver haired youth.

"Not so fast now, are you Quicksilver?" He asked with a smirk. The silver haired youth, apparently Quicksilver, glared at him for a moment, then smirked victoriously.

"Yeah? Well good for you Daniels, you still can't prove that I had anything to do with getting you in trouble, can you?"

"Ooh, sounds like a challenge," the boy called Daniels taunted and pulled out a small tape recorder. "I got it all right here. Check this out."

The African-American youth pressed a button to play a recording of Quicksilver's voice.

"Actually, yeah. Yeah, I trashed those lockers. What, you gonna do something about it?"

Quicksilver looked surprised, then defiant, but said nothing. David walked over and smiled amusedly at the situation.

"Yeah, you really got burned there, Twinkle Toes."

"Shut up," Quicksilver snapped. David simply grinned mischievously. The tall brown haired man came forward and gave the African-American youth a good natured slap on the shoulder.

"Good move, dude. Looks like some of that training did pay off."

"Hey, I had a good teacher, didn't I?"

The brown haired man turned towards David and Joseph, but before he could speak police sirens sounded in the distance, approaching quickly. The three teens in the odd uniforms tensed for a moment, and David spoke up.

"You chaps go ahead, I'll deal with the police."

"Are you sure?" The brown haired man asked. David waved his hand dismissively.

"Don't worry, I'll only tell them what they need to hear. Just leave the tape recorder with me for now, all right?"

"Uh, sure," the African-American youth conceded and handed David the tape recorder. David took it, and the three teens hurried into the alley where David and Joseph had been before. David turned to Joseph.

"You go on with them, mate. I'll catch up later."

"All right…" Joseph replied uncertainly, and followed the others. As he moved towards the alley, he couldn't help feeling that his life was about to change completely.

A/N: Bleh, that ending is so rushed, but I don't feel like changing it 'cause the chapter is plenty long enough already…Oh well. Anyway, like I said in the summary, if you know your X-Men then you probably already have a hunch where I'm going to take Joseph's story. And David Frost is my sort-of OC for this story. The shadow power he uses is the Dark Matter power from the X-Men: Destiny game. As for David's characterization, well, that's from TheCaptainofDave's walkthrough and commentary of the game on Youtube. That's easily one of the funniest commentaries I've come across, if for no other reason than Dave's British accent. I'm not trying to be racist or anything, the British accent is just kind of funny for my American ears to listen to. And British or not Dave's commentary is still hilarious! "FALCON PUNCH! I just fell off the edge!" LOL LOL LOL! Yeah, anyway...see you all in the next chapter!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: In case you've forgotten, I don't own X-Men anything.

Chapter 2

Joseph entered the alley, rather nervous and alert for any danger. He doubted that the three people in strange uniforms were going to hurt him, or else they would have already; but living on the streets makes you cautious real quick. That was the only sort of life that Joseph remembered. For a moment, Joseph considered just leaving the area and not catching up with them at all. His life on the streets was a hard one, but at least it was something he knew. His strange control over metal was complicated enough, he didn't want to deal with more unknown factors in his life.

But could he go back to his street life in peace, now that he knew there were other people like David and himself? The youth called Quicksilver was sure to go to jail for his acts of vandalism, and the police weren't likely to let a homeless person visit him. David's sister was a busy woman running her father's company, so she was unlikely to have time to chat with someone like Joseph. David himself probably knew no more than Joseph did about these 'special gifts' that seemed to be cropping up every time he turned around. But those three in the odd uniforms, would they be more open about the situation? Ever since his strange ability appeared, Joseph had been nagged by questions he didn't have answers to. Maybe they had the answers?

Joseph stood in the alley, still trying to decide what to do. When he heard police cars come to a stop in the street behind him, he exited the alley onto the next street and hurried away before someone spotted him and started asking questions he didn't feel ready to answer. When he was a couple blocks away he felt safe enough from prying eyes to stop and think.

He looked around to make sure no one had followed him, and spotted the three teenagers that David told him to go with. At least, they looked like the three teenagers he saw before. But their clothing was different now. Instead of uniforms, all three now wore regular casual clothing that you would see on anyone. They were standing by a red open-top sports car, and clearly waiting for him. If they had time to find a sheltered place to change into their street clothes then Joseph must have been standing in the alley longer than he realized.

Joseph took a steadying breath and approached them, feeling rather self conscious about his own scruffy clothing and obvious lack of a shower. If any of this bothered the three others, they didn't show it.

"Um…" Joseph started, uncertainly. "David told me to come with you…Does he know you all?"

"Huh? No, I don't think we've met David before," the tall brown haired fellow said. "But he had the right idea. You were controlling those trash can lids, right?"

"Yeah. David says its magnetism or something."

"Well then, we have to talk," the brown haired man said.

Joseph tensed. "Am I in trouble?" He half stammered out.

The red haired woman smiled reassuringly. "No, you're just going through some changes right now."

"Yeah, I noticed," Joseph muttered glumly. The tall brown haired man spoke up.

"Well, we should introduce ourselves before we start talking about the deep stuff. I'm Scott Summers, and this," here the man called Scott motioned at the red haired woman and the African-American youth, "Is Jean Grey and Evan Daniels." Joseph tried not to feel awkward about the friendly greetings that Jean and Evan gave him. He cleared his throat before he could respond properly.

"I'm Joseph." That was all he said-all he could say-in the way of introductions. Scott and Evan seemed to take this short answer in stride, but Joseph could almost see the wheels turning in Jean's mind as she studied him. That was the same look that Emma gave him when David introduced him for the first time. Great, Jean must be a telepath like Emma.

"So, Joseph," Scott began, getting his thoughts together. "You've noticed that you have a gift that a lot of other people don't have. You're wondering why you have it and just what it is, aren't you?" Joseph nodded wordlessly. Scott smiled reassuringly.

"Well, we have 'gifts' like that too…Our 'gifts' are all different, but they all come from the same thing-the Advanced X-Gene. Usually the Advanced X-Gene is dormant for most of a person's early life, but the physical changes brought about by puberty 'wake up' this gene. The gene then triggers other changes than the usual stuff-like, in your case, magnetism."

"All right…" Joseph responded slowly, not knowing what else to say. Scott's smile turned rueful.

"I know, it takes some getting used to. But you don't have to figure things out by yourself." Scott motioned at himself and Jean and Evan as he continued. "We go to a school that's specifically for people like us, to give us a safe place to learn how to control our abilities. It's the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters. You can come too, if you want."

Joseph shifted uncomfortably. "I don't have money for tuition…"

"You don't need to pay anything," Jean reassured. Joseph was surprised.

"Really?"

Evan grinned at Joseph's rather flabbergasted expression. "Yeah, that was my reaction too, dude."

"How does that even work?" Joseph asked incredulously. Scott smiled.

"The headmaster, Professor Xavier, comes from old money and he takes in students free of charge. Donations are welcome, of course, but that's by no means a requirement. If you come join the school, you don't need to worry about paying for tuition or anything."

Joseph didn't know what to say. A school for gifted people that didn't take tuition? Even if money wasn't an issue for the Professor, Joseph still couldn't help feeling bad about taking advantage of such an arrangement. After a moment's silence, he finally got his voice working again.

"Is it hard? The classes or whatever it is you do to learn control?" He asked. The three teens exchanged looks.

"That depends on how you look at it," Scott mused. "Logan is certainly on the gruff side, and the Professor and Miss Munroe can be stern when its needed. But as with anything in life, you only get as much out of it as what you put into it, you know?"

Joseph nodded.

"I guess there's a lot of students enrolled in the school right now…" Joseph remarked.

"Actually, there's only five of us so far," Scott explained. "Me, Jean, Evan, Kurt, and Kitty. Kurt and Kitty are back at the Institute right now."

"Really, only five students?" Joseph was kind of worried now. Was Xavier's really that exclusive? If he felt self-conscious about the situation before, Joseph felt really small now. Scott chuckled.

"Yeah, there's not many of us right now, but later on, who knows?"

Joseph shifted again, still unsure. "I don't know about this…"

"You don't need to make a decision right now," Scott pointed out. "You can think about it however long you need to. And though we would really like you to come join us, we'll respect whatever choice you make."

Joseph thought for a moment before speaking.

"Could David come too?"

Scott nodded. "Sure, if he wants to."

"I think I'll see what he thinks first, before I decide," Joseph said. Scott nodded, and took a small notebook and pen out of his pocket. He quickly scribbled something down and tore out the piece of paper, handing it to Joseph.

"Here's the address, Joseph," Scott said. "Come look us up when you decide, okay?"

"Okay." Joseph replied simply.

"All right, see you soon!" Scott smiled and got into the driver's seat of the car; Evan and Jean were already seated inside the vehicle. The engine came to life, and with a last farewell, the three very normal looking teens drove off down the dark street. Joseph stood on the sidewalk, watching until they were out of sight. He glanced down at the piece of paper in his hand, thinking, and stuffed into one pocket of his hoodie.

Looks like he was right about his life changing completely. He had a choice now, a chance to get out of his ne'er-do-well life on the streets and make something of himself. He still felt uncomfortable at the thought of leaving a somewhat familiar way of life and imposing on Professor Xavier, but he was also quite excited to have a chance like this. With any luck, David would come along too.

As Joseph stood thinking, a smile appeared on his face, small but genuine. There was a warm, sunny _something_ growing in his chest…hope? Yes, that was it. With this almost foreign feeling apparent in his face, Joseph turned and walked down the sidewalk. There was a small spring in his step that hadn't been there before.

A/N: And that's chapter two, folks, short though it is! It still seems rushed, somehow…I really need to figure out what's making me write like that so I can fix it… But don't worry, Joseph will be seeing the Institute in another chapter or so, just be patient! Also, David isn't going to be the only OC in this story. I'm bouncing around a few ideas right now, but I haven't decided on anything just yet. Beyond the OC's and touching on a few…'obvious' details about Joseph, I really have no idea where I'm taking this story. Let's just hope that I don't run dry of inspiration/interest before I finish it.


	3. Author's Note -- Please Read

Hi everyone. I'm sorry, but I won't be able to update any of my stories for awhile. My parents and I have been having some discussions about my future (college, working towards getting my driver's license, possibly moving out, ect.) and both of them have insisted that until I start showing some initiative in the 'real world', I will essentially be grounded from writing any more stories. Don't worry, I WILL get back to writing and updating my stories, but that won't happen until my parents are satisfied that I have my act together in the real world. That could be several months or even a few years. So, as of Sunday, April 7, 2013, all of my stories on 'pause' until further notice. I know the more faithful of my readers will be very disappointed with this turn of events, but until I straighten up this is all I got.


	4. Author's Note -- Update!

**A/N: I LIVE~! Sorry it took me so long to get back, people! I'm on a roll with my college classes and working towards my driver's license, so my parents say that I can start writing stories again, YAY! But it will still be a while before I get another chapter up on any of my stories, because I had deleted all of my notes earlier. I had to delete them so my parents would be absolutely sure that I wouldn't work on my stories in secret when I was supposed to be concentrating on schoolwork, you see. It will take some time to write up all my notes again, but I will get back to updating my stories soon! My previous statements about the update schedule still stand.**


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